Turbomachine repair using additive manufacturing

Abstract

A system includes a mounting plate having a plurality of reference members, an inspection system having a profiler device, and an additive manufacturing machine operatively coupled with the inspection system. A computer device scans the mounting plate with the profiler device to obtain position and orientation of the reference members and position and top surface profile data of any parts located on the mounting plate. A transmitting step transmits reference member position and orientation and part position and top surface profile data to the additive manufacturing machine. A detecting step detects mounting plate orientation and position inside the additive manufacturing machine. A combining step combines mounting plate orientation/position inside of the additive manufacturing machine and part position and top surface profile data to calculate a build path program for the additive manufacturing machine. A performing step performs a build process using the build path program to repair the parts.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. A system comprising:
 a mounting plate having a plurality of reference members; 
 an inspection system having a profiler device; 
 an additive manufacturing machine operatively coupled with the inspection system, the additive manufacturing machine including a build chamber; 
 a computer device configured to perform the steps of: 
 scanning the mounting plate with the profiler device outside of the build chamber of the additive manufacturing machine to obtain position and orientation of the reference members and position and top surface profile data of any parts located on the mounting plate; 
 transmitting the position and orientation of the reference members and the position and top surface profile data of the parts to the additive manufacturing machine; 
 detecting orientation and position of the mounting plate after the mounting plate has been placed inside of the build chamber of the additive manufacturing machine; 
 combining the orientation and position of the mounting plate obtained inside of the build chamber of the additive manufacturing machine and the position and top surface profile data of the parts obtained outside of the build chamber of the additive manufacturing machine to calculate a build path program for the additive manufacturing machine; and 
 performing a build process inside of the build chamber of the additive manufacturing system using the build path program to repair the parts. 
 
     
     
       2. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the reference members are located in an asymmetric pattern on the mounting plate. 
     
     
       3. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the reference members comprise a plurality of posts having predefined heights. 
     
     
       4. The system of  claim 1 , the mounting plate further comprising a plurality of mounting regions for mounting and securely retaining the parts. 
     
     
       5. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the profiler device is a two-dimensional profiler device mounted to a two-dimensional stage, the two-dimensional stage configured to move the two-dimensional profiler device over the mounting plate in two orthogonal dimensions. 
     
     
       6. The system of  claim 5 , wherein the two-dimensional profiler device is one of:
 a laser profiler, or a structured light profiler. 
 
     
     
       7. The system of  claim 1 , the additive manufacturing machine comprising a plurality of linear displacement sensors for detecting the position and the orientation of the mounting plate inside of the additive manufacturing machine. 
     
     
       8. The system of  claim 7 , wherein there are at least three linear displacement sensors so that the position of the mounting plate is obtained with six degrees of freedom. 
     
     
       9. A computer-implemented method comprising:
 scanning a mounting plate and a plurality of parts thereon outside of a build chamber of an additive manufacturing machine with a profiler device to obtain position and orientation of the mounting plate and position and top surface profile data of the parts; 
 transmitting the position, the orientation and the top surface profile data to the additive manufacturing machine; 
 inserting the mounting plate and parts into the build chamber of the additive manufacturing machine; 
 detecting orientation and position of the mounting plate after the mounting plate has been placed inside of the build chamber of the additive manufacturing machine; 
 combining the orientation and the position of the mounting plate obtained inside of the build chamber of the additive manufacturing machine and the position and top surface profile data of the parts obtained outside of the build chamber of the additive manufacturing machine to calculate a build path program for the additive manufacturing machine; and 
 performing a build process inside of the build chamber of the additive manufacturing system using the build path program to repair the parts. 
 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 9 , wherein the mounting plate comprises a plurality of reference members located in an asymmetric pattern on the mounting plate, and the scanning step determines the position and the orientation of the mounting plate by scanning the reference members. 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 10 , wherein the reference members have predefined heights. 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 10 , the mounting plate further comprising a plurality of mounting regions for mounting and securely retaining the parts. 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 10 , wherein the profiler device is a two-dimensional profiler device mounted to a two-dimensional stage, the two-dimensional stage moving the two-dimensional profiler over the mounting plate in two orthogonal dimensions. 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 13 , wherein the two-dimensional profiler device is one of:
 a laser profiler, or a structured light profiler. 
 
     
     
       15. The method of  claim 9 , wherein the detecting step is performed with a plurality of linear displacement sensors that detect the position and the orientation of the mounting plate inside of the additive manufacturing machine. 
     
     
       16. The method of  claim 15 , wherein there are at least six linear displacement sensors so that the position of the mounting plate is obtained with six degrees of freedom. 
     
     
       17. The method of  claim 9 , wherein the parts are turbomachine parts. 
     
     
       18. A non-transitory computer readable medium containing computer instructions stored therein for causing a computer processor to perform the following steps:
 scanning a mounting plate and a plurality of parts thereon outside of a build chamber of an additive manufacturing machine with a profiler device to obtain position and orientation of the mounting plate and top surface profile data of the parts; 
 transmitting the position, the orientation and the top surface profile data to the additive manufacturing machine; 
 detecting orientation and position of the mounting plate after the mounting plate has been placed inside of the build chamber of the additive manufacturing machine; 
 combining the orientation and the position of the mounting plate obtained inside of the build chamber of the additive manufacturing machine and the top surface profile data obtained outside of the build chamber of the additive manufacturing machine to calculate a build path program for the additive manufacturing machine; and 
 performing a build process inside of the build chamber of the additive manufacturing system using the build path program to repair the parts.